Driver avoids head-on crash, plows truck into Scarborough marsh

SCARBOROUGH, Maine — The driver of a black Ford Ranger pickup truck escaped injury after narrowly averting a head-on collision Monday evening on Payne Road in Scarborough by turning into a roadside marsh.

Patrolman Glenn Tucker of the Scarborough Police Department said the incident, which occurred at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, closed Payne Road between Milliken and Beech roads for roughly 30 minutes, allowing a wrecker to remove the black Ford Ranger from the marsh. Tucker said the driver was not injured but that water damage likely resulted in a total loss of the vehicle.

Tucker said the driver of the truck swerved to avoid an oncoming black Chrysler Sebring that, according to eyewitnesses, crossed the centerline on Payne Road heading north. That driver did not stop and is still being sought by police as part of the crash investigation.

Police did not immediately identify the driver of the truck that plunged into the marsh.